Emergency Homeschool

Flexibility is one of homeschooling’s biggest benefits. Yet families still often feel pressure to follow a traditional 7-hour school day.

In this episode of Emergency Homeschool, we talk about how to plan your daily homeschool schedule with Pam Barnhill, educator, homeschool mom and founder of Your Morning Basket; and Jacqueline Wilson, author, educator and homeschool mom.

Here's what we discuss with Pam and Jacqueline:

• How might a daily homeschool schedule look different for an elementary student, a middle schooler and a high schooler?
• What level of daily structure and routine is necessary for kids?
• How to backward design knowledge outcomes into daily and weekly academic schedules
• Why you don't need to shoehorn your homeschool schedule into a traditional schoolday's time frame

Will a homeschool year make it more difficult for your student to get into college? And how do the nation’s finest STEM universities evaluate students with a non-traditional academic background?

In this episode of Emergency Homeschool, we talk with Chris Peterson, Assistant Director of Admissions at MIT, and Dr. Brian Ray, President of the National Home Education Research Institute about how this pandemic will affect future college admission decisions.

Here's what we discuss with Chris and Brian:

• How do top universities evaluate homeschooled applicants for admission?
• Are standardized tests even more important for homeschooled applicants?
• How tough is the transition from homeschooling to college?

Will my child miss out on socialization if they aren't in a traditional classroom?

That's a common worry for many parents considering homeschooling. How can parents help their children interact with the world while learning at home?

In this episode of Emergency Homeschool, we talk with Andrea Dillon, Content Manager at A2Z Homeschooling, and Dr. Stephanie Mihalas, Licensed and Board-Certified Psychologist, Nationally Certified School Psychologist, and Founder at The Center for Well Being about homeschool socialization options during a pandemic.

Here's what we discuss with Andrea and Stephanie:

• How much of school is about learning and how much is about socialization?
• Ways to pop the "homeschool bubble"
• Prioritizing kids' mental health during the pandemic

Is hybrid homeschooling the perfect flexible learning option for a pandemic? And if so, how can parents successfully implement hybrid homeschooling for their families?

In this episode of Emergency Homeschool, we talk with Dr. Michael McShane, Director of National Research at EdChoice, and Chris Peterson, Assistant Director of Admissions at MIT.

Here's what we discuss with Michael and Chris:

• What is hybrid homeschooling?
• How flexible will public schools be with their hybrid homeschool offerings?
• Is hybrid homeschooling the perfect gateway preparation for college?

What advice would you give new and tentative homeschoolers about choosing their curriculum?

In this episode of Emergency Homeschool, we talk with Pam Barnhill, homeschool mom and Founder of Your Morning Basket; and DeLise Bernard, homeschool mom, educational consultant, and Founder of Surviving Homeschool about the hunt for the best curriculum, and why it doesn’t need to be a stressful exercise.

Here's what we discuss with Pam and DeLise:

• Why one year of the wrong curriculum won't ruin your child
• The pros and cons of starting with a big-box, all-in-one curriculum solution vs. a best-in-breed plan
• Making the time for fun, exploratory electives

Without teacher training or credentials, how can you give your child the high-quality education they need and deserve?

In this episode of Emergency Homeschool, we talk with Jeremy Newman, Director of Public Policy at Texas Homeschool Coalition; and DeLise Bernard, homeschool mom, educational consultant, and Founder of Surviving Homeschool to talk about your options for both insourcing and outsourcing teaching in your homeschool classroom.

Here's what we discuss with Jeremy and DeLise:

• How to teach, assess, and support your child when they are learning things you don't know or don't remember
• The wide spectrum of options for the homeschool classroom, how your parent role in it may change over time, and why that's okay
• How to maintain a strong parent-child relationship even while you're teaching
• Options to leverage trained and certified teachers while you're homeschooling

Do you know the homeschool requirements in your state?

Because where you live largely determines how you're going to be able to conduct your at home learning. In some states, parents need a teaching license while in others, there are almost no restrictions at all. 

In this episode of the Emergency Homeschool podcast series, we talk with Jeremy Newman, Director of Public Policy at Texas Homeschool Coalition, and TJ Schmidt, Staff Attorney at the Home School Legal Defense Association.

Here's what we discuss with Jeremy and TJ:

• The requirements parents need to know about before they homeschool
• What kinds of tests parents need to conduct in order to assess learning and meet legal requirements
• Any class time and day requirements parents need to consider
• How to transition seamlessly and legally between public school and homeschool during the pandemic

Customizing the at-home classroom to each individual student's preferences can be a very compelling approach to education. However, parents need to examine some big misconceptions surrounding learning styles theory.

In this episode of Emergency Homeschool, we talk with Dr. Jennifer Frederick, Executive Director at Yale University’s Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning, and TJ Schmidt, Staff Attorney at the Home School Legal Defense Association.

Here's what we discuss with Jenny and TJ:

• The problem with using learning styles as a framework to organize instruction
• What should and shouldn't change from a customization perspective when teaching your child in an at-home environment
• The real benefits to choosing or supplementing curriculum to better match your student

On the Emergency Homeschool podcast, we're going to get answers to the questions we keep hearing our Art of Problem Solving parents asking: 

What are their school options for fall? How can they find the best homeschool curriculum? How can they figure out their state's regulations for at-home learning? How can their students socialize and make friends online? How could this period affect their students' future college admission chances?

In this first episode, we talk with Dr. Michael McShane, Director of National Research at EdChoice, and Dr. Stephanie Mihalas, Licensed and Board-Certified Psychologist, Nationally Certified School Psychologist, and Founder at The Center for Well Being.